Meeyoung Cho | 4.13.12

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is determined to bring down high oil prices and is working with fellow OPEC members to accomplish that, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Friday. Brent crude has risen about 13 percent this year, trading above $120 a barrel on Friday, threatening a nascent recovery of the global economy. Oil has traded above $100 for all but a couple of days in the past year. “We are seeing a prolonged period of high oil prices,” Naimi said in a statement during a visit to Seoul. “We are not happy about it. (The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) is determined to see a lower price and is working towards that goal.”

4.13.12

The world’s biggest solar energy facility, built with Austrian technology, has opened in Saudi Arabia and will provide Riyad’s Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University with warm water, the firms responsible said on Friday. The facility, built by Austrian firms GREENoneTEC and AEE Intec, consists of 36,000 square metres (387,500 square feet) of solar panels and cost 3.6 million euros ($4.7 million). After a six-month trial period that began in late 2011, the facility became operational this week, its makers said.

4.13.12

The Commerce and Industry Ministry is studying a proposal to appoint Saudi businesswomen to the board of directors of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry in response to the continuous demand of the chamber’s women members. According to a report carried by Al-Eqtisadiah business daily, Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq Al-Rabeeah has been requested to appoint businesswomen to the chamber’s board without their participation in the upcoming elections.

4.13.12

National Commercial Bank said that cement demand in the world’s oil basin has been rising on the back of huge government and private sector projects and an expected surge in public expenditure above budgeted levels will further fuel demand growth. The report expected government expenditure to exceed the budgeted amount by nearly 13% to reach SAR 780 billion during 2012. The surge would increase the need for cement to meet the elevated demand levels adding that production increased by 5.4 million tonnes to reach 48.4 million tonnes in 2011 in comparison to 2010 and 2009’s production of 43 million and 37.8 million tonnes respectively.

Ghanzanfar Ali Khan | 4.13.12

The fate of Saudi deputy consul Abdullah Al-Khalidi is still unclear following his kidnapping in Yemen due to the silence of Yemeni authorities and various rumors circulating in the country’s media. More than two weeks have passed since Al-Khalidi’s abduction by unidentified gunmen from the southern port city of Aden, but security agencies in Yemen have failed to secure his release. Alauddin Alaskari, deputy foreign minister for protocol affairs, said in Riyadh yesterday that he was not aware of the new developments in the case.

Joshua Jacobs | 4.13.12

The danger with this scenario is that while Saudi Arabia embarks on its jihad to topple Mr. Assad, it will get free reign in picking the winners and losers among the opposition – likely Islamist groups at the expense of moderates and secularists. If there was any doubt as to Saudi Arabian intentions in Syria, that veil was ripped away at the recent “Friends of Syria” conference in Istanbul. The Saudis and their Gulf allies spearheaded an effort to create a formalized pay structure for the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and privately ruminated on the possibility of setting up official supply conduits to anti-Assad forces. This effort went much further than what the West, or even neighboring Turkey, seemed willing to embrace. When the Syrian uprising began last March, Saudi Arabia was in a state of panic.

Alexandra Sandels | 4.13.12

Saudi Arabia has jailed a hard-line cleric who once called for demolishing the Grand Mosque in Mecca and rebuilding it to prevent mixing between the sexes at Islam’s holiest site, local media reports say. The news website Aleqt.com said Yousuf Ahmad was sentenced to five years in prison for “disobedience” to the ultraconservative kingdom’s rulers and “incitement” against them. The kingdom arrested Ahmad last July after he called for the release of political prisoners, media reports said. Some reports said he was arrested after posting a YouTube video in which he criticized King Abdullah and top Saudi officials for the practice of detention without trial.

Dow Jones Newswires | 4.13.12

Italy’s Saipem SpA said Friday it won an onshore engineering-and-construction contract worth approximately $350 million in Saudi Arabia. The contract includes procurement, installation, construction and assistance during the commissioning of a new rainwater drainage system serving the northern side of the City of Jeddah, Saipem said.

4.13.12

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has formulated a plan to check any rises in commodity prices and is closely monitoring the markets to end any monopoly of goods, Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah has said. Al-Rabiah, who is also the chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon), made the remarks following a tour of the industrial city in Madinah. “The ministry is closely observing prices and is endeavoring to ensure sufficient supply of goods so as to close the door for any price rise and to prevent monopoly of commodity trade,” he said.

4.13.12

Umrah performers from all over the world have started to arrive in Jeddah, but Syrian people are banned from doing Umrah this year due to the cancellation of all flights and bus trips, according to a member of the Haj and Umrah committee at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI). Ahmad Bajuaither, who is also the owner of a Haj and Umrah company that arranges trips from Syria to the Kingdom during the holy months, added, “Until now we didn’t receive any Umrah performer from Syria. The consulate is already closed in Damascus, and diplomatic relations have also stopped.” According to Bajuaither, even if Umrah companies were allowed to arrange trips from Syria, they would not do so.

4.13.12

Speakers at the Saudi Indian Business Network (SIBN) workshop held in Jeddah recently highlighted the tremendous investment opportunities available in India and Saudi Arabia. A large number of Saudi and Indian entrepreneurs, businessmen and senior executives of the financial market attended the workshop. SIBN is a networking organization of Saudi and Indian businessmen and senior executives under the auspices of Consulate General of India, Jeddah. The raison d’être of the body is to foster bilateral economic and commercial ties between India and Saudi Arabia by exploring and highlighting the trade and investment opportunities in both the countries. Mohammed Bajba, Director of Gold Project at Ma’aden, explained at length the corporate policy of Ma’aden as the third most important arm of the government of Saudi Arabia. It is doing its best to utilize the natural resources of Saudi Arabia for the sustainable growth of the country, he said.